#Strasbourg plenary: Europe Day 9 May - 'It's time to fight for Europe'

President Schulz recalled the declaration by French foreign minister Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950 that paved the way for the European Coal and Steel Community, the forerunner of the European Union. He called upon Europeans today to show the same creative courage in the fight to ensure that solidarity and peaceful cooperation across borders, not hatred, violence and destruction, shape the coexistence of nations in Europe.

After a performance of Beethoven's Ode to Joy in the chamber by young musicians of the AdAstra Quartet of the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, Schulz reiterated Schuman’s messages that efforts to safeguard world peace must match the dangers that threaten it, and that Europe will not be built all at once or to a single plan: it will be built through concrete achievements that first create a de facto solidarity.

He next illustrated these messages with “wake up” quotes from a series of speakers, including Pope Francis, urging Europeans to rediscover the EU’s founding values and humanism and to build upon them a new model of peace and cooperation that counters violence and destruction.

Other speakers cited by Schulz included Congolese gynaecologist and Sakharov prize winner Denis Mukwege, in November 2014, on the EU’s defence of human dignity and human rights, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari in February 2016, on its efforts to combat the scourge of underdevelopment, Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in April 2016, who predicted that as Europe overcame barbarism, so it will overcome terrorism and Estonia’s President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who warned in February 2016 that “solutions” that revert to a “nation state” mentality could return Europe to a pre-World War II era.

Schulz concluded by voicing confidence that the overwhelming majority of Europeans still believe that co-operation across borders is the best path to take. "It is time to fight for Europe," he urged.
Agenda changes

Wednesday (11 May)
A debate on Turkey's progress in fulfilling the requirements of the Visa Liberalisation Road Map was added to the afternoon agenda as the third point, after Council and Commission statements on restoring a fully functioning Schengen system. As a consequence, the sitting is extended until 24h.

Incoming/outgoing MEPs
Lieve Wierinck (ALDE, BE) replaced Philippe De Backer as of 4 May 2016.

The seat of Janusz Wojciechowski (ECR, PL) became vacant as of 7 May following his appointment as member of the European Court of Auditors.